Is Media a Boon or a Bane to the Society? Some Reflections ...

Volume IV : 2018 JOLRC

/ 57

Is Media a Boon or a Bane to the Society?

Some Reflections in the Light of Dokmoka Lynching

Dr. Trisha Dowerah Baruah*

Abstract

Media often acts as the watchdog of the society. As carriers of

messages of mass communication,the mass media is a very powerful

instrument in informing the people or masses about virtually anything on

earth. New media which includes internet, internet radio and social media

has been gaining popularity among the masses the world over. Various

forms of social media platforms are hugely popular among the youth

because they are user friendly, cost effective and have various interactive

features. However, on the flip side, social media has gained notoriety for

spreading fake news leading to mob violence. Such acts of violence are

widespread in various parts of India and its impact can also be seen in

Assam.

The recent lynching of two boys in Karbi Anglong district of Assam

over has once again brought into focus, the perils of communicating via

social media platforms. This present study has been undertaken in order to

pinpoint the fact that one must be cautious while forwarding or believing

any messages that are widely circulated across various onlinesites. This is

owing to the fact that such kinds of messages can have serious consequences

in the long run, it changes the way people interpret and respond to real

facts.

Key words: Media, Mob lynching, News, Social media

1.0 Introduction

Media has permeated every aspect of our lives. From the time we get up to

the time we go to bed, we use of different forms of media.This is basically the

digital age where news gets updated from all the corners of the world at every

second. In fact, digital or social media has increasingly come to replace the print

media to a large extent. However, this does not mean that the importance of

newspapers and radio has come down. They still continue to exist with a majority

of the netizens hooked on to the online newspapers and other news portals that

* Assistant Professor in Mass Communication, Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University, Guwahati.


58 /

offer the advantage of surfing news updates round the clock. Just as media can

act as an effective medium of disseminating news and views, it also goes the

other way round by engaging in sensationalism and false reporting or distortion

of facts. Fake news can be created and spread easily through the web and social

media platforms, resulting in widespread real-world impact.

2.0 Objectives of the Present Study

The basic objectives of the present study are:

(1) To analyse how fake news can have detrimental impact on the society

(2) To bring to focus the fallout of such fake and sensational news reports

that lead to mob lynching cases

(3) Taking measures to curb the growing incidence of the spreading of fake

news

3.0 Methodology of the Present Study

The present study is basically a qualitative analysis of the present status of

the social media landscape and how it can be exploited in spreading

misinformation, falsehood and derogatory comments aimed at tarnishing an

individual’s reputation. The present study specifically focuses on the sensational

Dokmoka lynching that took place in Karbi Anglong district of Assam in June,

2018 which was an aftershoot of fake news that was widely circulated in one of

the popular social media platforms. The present study is also based on observation

method. Document analysis of secondary sources like website, newsletters,

journals, magazines, books etc. has been done to corroborate the fact on how the

spreading of fake news can have detrimental impacts on the society.

4.0 What Makes News?

This is basically a debatable issue considering the amount of sleaze and

sensationalism that occupies a major chunk of news coverage today. However, if

one were to ask any professional journalist, he or she would say that ‘anything

new is news’. In fact, one must have the nose for news to sense it. It can break

out at any time and is not necessarily confined to any geographic location or time

zone. Novelty, interest, proximity, relevance, timeliness, immediacy and perishability

are some of the important characteristics of news. However, with the growth of

Dr. Trisha Dowerah Baruah


/ 59Is Media a Boon or a Bane to the Society? Some Reflections in the Light of Dokmoka Lynching

corporatisation of media houses, there has been a large scale degradation on the

quality of news that are published or broadcast over different media platforms.

Nowadays, social media is widely used by most of the media houses to keep the

general public abreast of news round the clock. With its unique characteristics of

interactivity, multimedia facility and immediacy, it is not only global in reach and

access but also freely available to one and all. Moreover, internet based newspapers

and live streaming of news by the news channels have enabled the common

masses to access news stories at the click of a mouse.

5.0 Fake News and the Spread of Misinformation

The web provides highly interconnected world-wide platform for everyone

to spread information to millions of people in a matter of few minutes. This has

no doubt brought forth the concept of citizen journalism, while at the same

time, it has led to increased visibility and impact of both true and false information.

False information has far reaching impact– they are liked, shared and commented

on more other than any other news. This high engagement of false information

with readers shows the degree of impact it can have on public opinion and

ideological perception. It has also become easy to identify fake news whereby the

text is more longer, exaggerated and opinionated

Kumar and Shah (2018) has categorised false information into the following

categories:

Figure 1 Categories of False Information

Source: Kumar & Shah (2018)


60 /

False information can be classified based on the intent of the author as

misinformation and disinformation. Misinformation is spread without the intent

to deceive while disinformation is spread with the intent to deceive. False

information can also be classified as either opinion-based or fact-based. Opinion-

based false information relates to individual opinion and highlights cases in which

there is no absolute truth. On the other hand, fact-based false information

contradicts, fabricates or conflates a single valued ground truth information. As

such, it becomes harder for people to distinguish between true and false

information. There are also some people who operate by creating fake ‘sock

puppet’ or ‘sybil’ accounts. They use these accounts to reflect the same point of

view or making similar comments on public forum.

There are several reasons as to why people fall prey to such type of news.

Consumers relate to those stories that confirms to their existing views. They tend

to believe that their perceptions of reality are the only accurate views while others

who fail to agree to such views are regarded as uninformed, irrational or biased.

6.0 Dokmoka Lynching: A Case in Point

One such incident that was the fallout of such false reporting of news was

the sensational Dokmoka lynching which took place a couple of months back in

June, 2018. Two innocent young men who fell prey to the fake news of their

being child kidnappers in the Karbi Anglong district of Assam. The spine chilling

video of the two young men being lynched to death apparently took the internet

by storm. It brought to focus the fact that the circulation of news by certain

groups through the medium of social media can actually lead to disastrous

circumstances. Unaware of the rumour that was spreading like wild fire regarding

the presence of child lifters in that particular area, both the young men had come

to enjoy the scenic Kangthilangso waterfall. While on their way back home, they

were stopped by a group of locals who apparently mistook them for child lifters

referred to as xopadhora in Assamese. The two boys were no match against the

250 persons in the crowd who were armed with machettes, knives and sticks.

They finally succumbed to their injuries once again pointing to the fact how

people blindly believe in facts without even verifying it. After this gruesome

incident, thousands have taken to the streets demanding justice and punishment

for those involved in the killing.




This is just one of those numerous cases where such kind of reporting of

news can be disastrous for the society at large. It is worth mentioning here that in

February, 2018 two Sikh men from Punjab were mistaken to be child-lifters and

beaten by a mob in the Kamrup district of Assam. Video of the two men begging

for mercy was widely circulated on social media. The irate mob reportedly removed

the turbans of the two men with their hair hanging on the shoulders.

Guwahati, the gateway to the North East has been a witness to such acts

of mob violence. In 2007, an Adivasi woman was publicly stripped and beaten

up along with some Adivasi men who joined hands with All Assam Adivasi

Students’ Association (AAASA) and took to the streets to protest against the

delay in granting of ST status to tea plantation workers of Assam. Similarly, in

2012 a young girl was molested in full public view in the city’s bustling G.S. Road

of Guwahati city, the videos of which were later telecast on news channels.

Some of the distinguished educationists of the State have come up with

different answers as to why this horrific crime was committed. The myth of

xopadhora (child lifters) is not just an urban myth in Assam but is prevalent across

the urban-rural divide and across class divisions. The burning question is why is

it still a persistent belief in the state? Parents over the years have narrated tales of

the xopadhora in order to discipline naughty children. Basically the children are

warned to not to talk or approach any strangers. So, one must keep in mind that

this did not always carry a negative meaning. Xopadhora has always been described

as someone with long hair, carrying a small bag and one who doesn’t belong to

the community. Reports said that one of the victims had dreadlocks at the time

and the two were in an SUV. This might have established the fact that they were

not locals. It is no wonder that people took in the rumours that were circulated

via WhatsApp of the entry of child-lifters from Bihar who were dressed as women

or were transgender and had long hair. The attacks on such individuals were

based on pure xenophobia.

Having said that, the fear of the child-lifters is not completely baseless in

contemporary Assam. As per the 2016 report on ‘Crime in India’ published by

the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs,

Government of India, Assam has had 6126 cases of abduction and kidnapping

in 2016 out of which 1451 cases are related to child victims belonging to different

age groups. If one looks at the table one will find that the cases of kidnapping

and abduction is on the rise in Assam for the period 2014-16.


62 /Dr. Trisha Dowerah Baruah



Total number of cases related to the kidnapping and abduction of children

in Assam for the year 2016 as provided by NCRB has been shown in Table 2.

As is evident from the above data, the number of cases of kidnapping and

abduction of people specially children are on the rise in Assam. Having said that,

the rise in the cases of kidnapping and abduction is not only the sole reason as to

why the local people had panicked at the thought of the presence of child-lifters

in their locality. This, along with the rising cases of child trafficking added fuel to

the fire. This caused a kind of panic in the minds of the people. The areas from

where children are trafficked in Assam are conflict-stricken areas, the hill areas,

the Char areas, and Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD). Moreover, the

charged atmosphere caused by the NRC (National Registrar of Citizens) and the

Citizenship Bill that was focused through different social media platforms made

the people believe in the news that was circulated through this medium.

Distrust towards traditional media as being ‘paid news’ and also towards

the police and the State is a contributing factor. Keeping aside these factors, one

also needs to understand the dynamics of mob psychology. The people in the

mob may not know each other but they are united by a common belief and

common intention. In a mob, people lose their individual identity and sense of

judgement, eventually committing brutal crimes with the belief that they are doing

the right thing. The mob at Dokmoka feared that the future of their children was

at stake and so they took matters in their own hands. In fact, an insecure and

revengeful mob will commit heinous crime on innocent people in order to send

a message to the society at large. This sort of vigilante justice is a threat to humanity

and seeks to endanger the social contract in lawful societies.

A group of social activists have alleged that superstition was behind the

Dokmoka lynching. People living in the interior parts of the villages of the state

blindly believe in superstitions. Witch hunting is one of the common problems

which have been plaguing the State since time immemorial. There have been

more than 80 instances of killing of so called ‘witches’ in Assam since 2006.

There is also a village known as ‘Mayong’ which is regarded by many as the place

where black magic abounds. It is often said that black magic practitioners can

turn people into animals. Such unscientific thoughts and beliefs are not easy to

shake off from the minds of the illiterate villagers.

The aftermath of the incident has led to an anti-tribal sentiment in the

minds of the common people. However, care must be taken that this does not


64 /

mushroom into a full-blown public outcry against the tribal population residing

in different parts of Assam. This incident perfectly captures several elements

that characterise the new normal in India – video graphic evidence of mob killings,

often taken by the perpetrators themselves; crowds who take “justice” into their

own hands; the discourse of the “outsider” and the large-scale propagation of

fake news via social media.

The last decade has seen a spurt in mob violence due to the prevalence of

certain social, economic and political conditions at a particular moment in time.

Such kind of atmosphere instigates the perpetrators to dehumanise a fellow human

being. The increase in the number of such cases needs to be analysed within

these frameworks. Karbis, Bodos, Mishings, Tiwas, and Kalitas occupy a major

portion of the Assamese community. Many such groups have a tribal historical

background and were later absorbed into the Brahmanical fold. Despite a

significant tribal populace, the ‘surplus producing’ non-tribal communities are

culturally and economically dominant. They hegemonise the public discourse.The

Karbis who mostly reside in the Karbi Anglong district of Assam, have over the

years been demanding autonomy from Assam. The isolation of this hill district is

both cultural and geographic. Thus, the reactions of the people consequent to

the incident revealed an ‘us versus them’, a tribal versus non-tribal dynamic.

Video recording of hate crimes and subsequent uploading of such videos

in popular social media platforms are quite common these days. The human

fascination with witnessing barbaric violence inflicted on fellow men predates

the invention of videography and social media. Be it the crowds watching gladiators

fight to death or the thrill-seeking audience who came to witness public executions;

the idea of death as a spectacle is not new.

7.0 Media at the Crossroads

Social media has no doubt taken the world by storm as far as dissemination

of news is concerned. However, there are certain darker sides to it too. Not only

are fake news widely circulated through the different social media platforms like

Facebook, blogs, twitter, WhatsApp etc., but social media also facilitates risk of

identity theft and fraud. Many a times, unsuspecting users are duped by people

pretending to be someone else. There is also an increase in the cases of online

harassment and stalking. A large number of terror outfits are also discreetly using

the web for propaganda purposes and recruiting cadres worldwide. Thus, social




media has become a weapon of destruction and desecration in the hands of

unscrupulous elements and mischief mongers.

Now the question that arises is where do we stand? Does media really help

in dissemination of constructive news or does it glorify such false reports? Is

contemporary society getting caught up in a culture of celebrating violence, and

does the disintegration of community life have anything to do with it? It is not

worthwhile to constantly accuse the media of maligning the people or for that

matter indulging in yellow journalism. Many people might disagree with this

proposition as media often acts as the magic bullet- we take in whatever is thrown

at us. The need of the hour is to develop a scientific attitude towards life based

on rational thinking. The menace of fake news and malicious rumours propagated

through social media must be looked into. Fake news are re-tweeted, forwarded

and shared in some of the common social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook

and WhatsApp. Such kinds of popular, yet untrue viral posts are forwarded by

the common people who pretend to be ‘verified users’.

A lot of debates and discussions can go on as to why people fall for such

kind of news, whether it is from a bot or a real friend. False news is more novel

and people like to repeat information that seems to affirm their beliefs. People

tend to get drawn towards sensational news rather than other news of national

and international importance. Just after the lynching incident took place, it was

widely discussed that the electronic media should refrain from repeatedly

telecasting the incident so as to avoid bringing in more controversies and creating

communal disharmony in the minds of the people. It also created a rift between

the tribal and the non-tribal population with a major chunk of population from

Guwahati taking to streets to protest against this violent act of crime.

A lot was said about the role of the media towards the development of the

society- that of beaming stories which would change the mind-set of the people

without hurting their sentiments. However, we are yet to see the light of the day

in this aspect. Such kind of incidents makes it somewhat difficult to foray into

the path of development.

8.0 The Road Ahead

The outrage following the incident revealed a dangerous progression of

mounting racist tensions and bigotry. The nature of the furore revealed an endemic

problem in our society, which perhaps explains how lynching have become


66 /

commonplace. It is not only the responsibility of the Government but also the

duty of the people to try and inculcate the spirit of tolerance towards each other

and bring in a reform in the society. A lot needs to done in order to instil scientific

temperament in the minds of the people and remove superstitious beliefs that is

likely to cause more harm than good in the long run. Facing backlash, the Assam

government came up with a cyber-wing to book the perpetrators of such malicious

stories circulating on social media. The need of the hour is to have a strong anti-

lynching law to put an end to this mindless violence for which the state must act

on it. Our law enforcement agencies have a reactive approach towards prevention

of crime. However, in order to keep vigilantism in check, one requires a proactive

approach. The police should also remain alert and nip the problem in the bud.

Visible policing, conducting awareness programmes to counter the rumours and

keeping a watch on the activities is of prime importance. Intelligence sources must

be placed in every possible remotest corner that should be clearly instructed to

inform the police immediately of any suspicious activity that might be going on.

Facebook owned WhatsApp have said that one needs to be cautious while

checking forwarded messages. Very often, it is seen that messages containing

hoaxes or fake news are wrongly spelled. So, one must crosscheck with the facts

before forwarding or believing such messages. The sum and substance of the

matter is one must be able to distinguish between true and false reports and

confirm the authenticity of the reports. Usually, such falsified reports contain

unbelievable news which are too good to be true and often goes viral. These are

some of the tell-tale signs of fake news stories.

Thus, there is the necessity of proper education and sensitisation in using

social media from school level onwards, the personal etiquette of not sharing

harmful or fake posts, and a counter strategy to flood social media with positive

and constructive news by agencies concerned. The repetitive airing of visuals

with violent content by TV channels racing for TRPs, neglect and lack of

understanding of deprived areas where incidents like witch hunting and mob

lynching occur, sensational coverage of sectarian conflicts yet disregard to fact

finding reports by investigative agencies, indifference to developments in science

and technology etc. are some of the issues that calls for soul searching by

mainstream media. Hence, a good education system, proactive policing and a

strong judiciary can set precedents and bring about evolutionary positive changes

in the long run.




The above discussion brings us to the question on whether the media really

proves itself as a boon or bane to the society. Media, especially ‘social media’ has

definitely changed the way people communicate and express. It has become such

an integral part of our lives that we are constantly engaged in some activity or the

other. These different medium of communication allows people to access news

and information quite easily. The availability of e-newspapers and other online

news portals have opened up new vistas of knowledge and information.

Nevertheless, there are also certain negative sides to it. New media, specially the

different social media platforms can sometimes lead to disastrous consequences

if proper care is not taken. For instance, the spread of false rumours can not only

endanger the lives of the people, but also convey inauthentic expression of feelings.

Thus, there are two sides to the coin if one debates on the usefulness of media in

the society. The fact of the matter is that,we as responsible citizens must be able

to distinguish between right and wrong. In fact, media will throw at us innumerable

news and views of events around the world but we must play the role of a

gatekeeper and take in only those stories which are supported by facts and figures.

References

Brewer, P. R., Young, D. G. & Morreale, M. (2013). The Impact of Real News

about Fake News: Intertextual Processes and Political Satire. International

Journal of Public Opinion, 25(3).

National Crime Records Bureau. (2016). Crime in India 2016 Statistics, New Delhi:

Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.

Madhok, M. (2015). News and Social Media. New Delhi: New Century Publications.

Marchi, R. (2012). With Facebook, Blogs, and Fake News, Teens Reject Journalistic

Objectivity. Journal of Communication Inquiry

Kumar, S. & Shah, N. (2018). False Information on Web and Social Media: A Survey,

1(1), Retrieved from: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1804.08559.pdf,

Jyeong-JuSeo, K. (2014). Using Social Media Effectively in the Classroom. New York:

Routledge.

Is Media a Boon or a Bane to the Society? Some Reflections ...

Documents

Transcript of Is Media a Boon or a Bane to the Society? Some Reflections ...